Table of Contents
Definition of Politics
(noun) The art of the exercise of power; the combination of individuals or parties (groups) making decisions that affect others and institutions (i.e., government, legal system, military, police) that governs based on those decisions.
Example of Politics
- In the United States, a politician goes on a publicity campaign to help them achieve the role of President.
Politics Pronunciation
Syllabification: pol·i·tics
Audio Pronunciation
Phonetic Spelling
- American English – /pAHl-uh-tiks/
- British English – /pOl-i-tiks/
International Phonetic Alphabet
- American English – /ˈpɑləˌtɪks/
- British English – /ˈpɒlᵻtɪks/
Usage Notes
- Types:
- macropolitics
- micropolitics
Related Quotation
- “‘The personal is political‘ is a powerful slogan that was coined during the women’s movement of the 1960s and 1970s. It means that what happens in our individual, private lives—at places such as our jobs, clubs, homes, or schools—reflects the power dynamics in broader, public society. As the twentieth-century political scientist Harold Lasswell famously said, politics is the process of who gets what, when, and how. Feminism brings that concept from the public realm into our personal worlds. It recognizes that seemingly personal issues point to larger, institutionalized practices and are therefore legitimately political issues. Another way to understand this concept is to ask questions such as who gets the goods and resources in society and who bears the burdens? Who sits in positions of power in Fortune 500 companies and who cleans the company offices? Who does the bulk of parenting and who gets paid more on the job? Who is sexually bought and who buys sexual access to bodies? Who is statistically more likely to experience domestic violence and who are the violent offenders? Who gets catcalled on the street? And while we’re at it, we can ask who risks their lives in war. Who makes the decisions to go to war in the first place?” (Tarrant 2009:8–9).
Related Video
Additional Information
- Crime and Law Resources – Books, Journals, and Helpful Links
- Politics and Policy Resources – Books, Journals, and Helpful Links
- Word origin of “politics” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
- Almond, Gabriel Abraham, and Sidney Verba. [1963] 2016. The Civic Culture: Political Attitudes and Democracy in Five Nations. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
- Birch, Anthony. 2016. The British System of Government. 10th ed. London: Routledge.
- Budge, Ian, David H. McKay, Kenneth Newton, and John R. Bartle. 2004. The New British Politics. 4th ed. London: Routledge.
- Coxall, Bill, Lynton Robins, and Robert Leach. 2003. Contemporary British Politics. 4th ed. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Dunleavy, Patrick, Colin Hay, Richard Heffernan, and Philip Cowley, eds. 2006. Developments in British Politics 8. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Jones, Bill, and Philip Norton. 2014. Politics UK. 8th ed. London: Routledge.
- Kingdom, John. 2014. Government and Politics in Britain. 4th ed. Cambridge: Polity.
- Lowi, Theodore, and Benjamin Ginsberg. 2006. American Government: Freedom and Power. Brief 2006 ed. London: Norton.
- Nugent, Neill. 2017. The Government and Politics of the European Union. 8th ed. London: Palgrave.
- Parsons, Talcott. 1969. Politics and Social Structure. New York: Free Press.
- Pierre, Jon, and B. Guy Peters. 2000. Governance, Politics and the State. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
- Seidler, Victor J. 1994. Recovering the Self: Morality and Social Theory. New York: Routledge.
- von Clausewitz, Carl. 1832. On War. London: Penguin.
- Youngs, Gillian. 2013. International Relations in a Global Age: A Conceptual Challenge. Hoboken: Wiley.
Related Terms
References
Henslin, James M. 2012. Sociology: A Down-to-Earth Approach. 10th ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Tarrant, Shira. 2009. Men and Feminism. Berkeley, CA: Seal Press.
Works Consulted
Brinkerhoff, David, Lynn White, Suzanne Ortega, and Rose Weitz. 2011. Essentials of Sociology. 8th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Collins English Dictionary: Complete and Unabridged. 6th ed. 2003. Glasgow, Scotland: Collins.
Delaney, Tim, and Tim Madigan. 2015. The Sociology of Sports: An Introduction. 2nd ed. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company.
Encyclopædia Britannica. (N.d.) Britannica Digital Learning. (https://britannicalearn.com/).
Ferris, Kerry, and Jill Stein. 2010. The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology. 2nd ed. New York: Norton.
Griffiths, Heather, Nathan Keirns, Eric Strayer, Susan Cody-Rydzewski, Gail Scaramuzzo, Tommy Sadler, Sally Vyain, Jeff Bry, Faye Jones. 2016. Introduction to Sociology 2e. Houston, TX: OpenStax.
Henslin, James M. 2012. Sociology: A Down-to-Earth Approach. 10th ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Hughes, Michael, and Carolyn J. Kroehler. 2011. Sociology: The Core. 10th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Jary, David, and Julia Jary. 2000. Collins Dictionary of Sociology. 3rd ed. Glasgow, Scotland: HarperCollins.
Kendall, Diana. 2011. Sociology in Our Times. 8th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Kimmel, Michael S., and Amy Aronson. 2012. Sociology Now. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Macionis, John. 2012. Sociology. 14th ed. Boston: Pearson.
Macionis, John, and Kenneth Plummer. 2012. Sociology: A Global Introduction. 4th ed. Harlow, England: Pearson Education.
Macmillan. (N.d.) Macmillan Dictionary. (https://www.macmillandictionary.com/).
Marsh, Ian, and Mike Keating, eds. 2006. Sociology: Making Sense of Society. 3rd ed. Harlow, England: Pearson Education.
Merriam-Webster. (N.d.) Merriam-Webster Dictionary. (http://www.merriam-webster.com/).
Oxford University Press. (N.d.) Oxford Dictionaries. (https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/).
Oxford Reference. (N.d.) Oxford Reference. Taylor & Francis. New York: Oxford University Press.
Princeton University. 2010. WordNet. (https://wordnet.princeton.edu/).
Random House Webster’s College Dictionary. 1997. New York: Random House.
Ravelli, Bruce, and Michelle Webber. 2016. Exploring Sociology: A Canadian Perspective. 3rd ed. Toronto: Pearson.
Ritzer, George, ed. 2007. The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Schaefer, Richard. 2013. Sociology: A Brief Introduction. 10th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Scott, John, and Gordon Marshall. 2005. A Dictionary of Sociology. New York: Oxford University Press.
Stewart, Paul, and Johan Zaaiman, eds. 2015. Sociology: A Concise South African Introduction. Cape Town: Juta.
Taylor & Francis. (N.d.) Routledge Handbooks Online. (https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/).
Thompson, William E., and Joseph V. Hickey. 2012. Society in Focus: An Introduction to Sociology. 7th ed. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Tischler, Henry L. 2011. Introduction to Sociology. 10th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Turner, Bryan S., ed. 2006. The Cambridge Dictionary of Sociology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. (https://en.wikipedia.org/).
Wiley. (N.d.) Wiley Online Library. (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/).
Cite the Definition of Politics
ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2017. “politics.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved April 20, 2024 (https://sociologydictionary.org/politics/).
APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)
politics. (2017). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/politics/
Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2017. “politics.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed April 20, 2024. https://sociologydictionary.org/politics/.
MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)
“politics.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2017. Web. 20 Apr. 2024. <https://sociologydictionary.org/politics/>.